Courage
by WayTooHappy
Summary: "The heart that saves hearts", let's just call it courage! In which Ayano teaches Seto a little something about bravery...


**A/N: Hi peoples! This is my first fanfiction, and I'm not an exceptionally good writer, so plz bear with me….**

**I know some people complain about gratuitous Japanese, but seriously its adorable when the trio calls Ayano Aya-nee or Ayano-neechan so please forgive me...other than that there is not weird Japanese phrases I swear (I think)!**

**Oh one last thing: I can't really romance I'm so sorry...there might be a bit of Shinaya and Setoxmary if you squint with 3d glasses but like its barely anything ahahaha (Like, really not there at all)**

**This is my view of the phrase "the heart that can save hearts is courage" in shonen brave~ ummmmm….hoped you liked it~**

Courage

The door to our red-bricked house opened so suddenly that I was caught by surprise. My eyes flew to the entrance immediately and I couldn't help myself-my eyes turned red.

The minute Ayano-neechan stepped into the house, I could hear the disappointment and sadness in her thoughts. I saw quick flashes of her memory-the figures of a boy and a girl on a bridge under red-stained sky, the boy that brushed my sister helping hand off, the angry words and the determined words, and finally the lone girl standing in the dust when the boy left.

Ayano-neechan noticed me staring at her with my large red eyes. She walked over to me and smiled.

"Kousuke, what's wrong?"

I'm a little embarrassed, and I look away from her. These are her memories, and really, what right do I have looking at them? But still, that boy was so mean, and Ayano-neechan deserved so much better…

"Aya-nee, why do you even talk to that boy?" I blurt out, "he's so mean to you, and he left you all alone!"

Ayano-neechan seems surprised, and then she gives a small smile.

"Do you mean Shintaro-kun? Don't think so harshly of Shintaro. Shintaro is a special boy. He's smart, too smart, and not a lot of people talk to him because of his attitude. He may not realize it, but he's always alone. And you know? Sometimes, when people are too smart, the world becomes boring and depressing. When answer comes so easily, everything starts to seem replaceable and even useless. Shintaro needs to see that there is so much more to the world, so many wonders that make life worth living. Shintaro needs friends, whether he knows it or not. That's why even when he tries to shake me off, I can't leave him. I can't leave him all alone"

"And besides," Ayano-neechan continues in an afterthought, "he's not always that bad. Underneath that cold attitude, he's actually pretty sweet."

I'm confused, because obviously this Shintaro boy is acting like a jerk around Ayano-neechan. Why does she care so much?

"The heart that can save hearts," Ayano-neechan says when she catches my look of disapproval, "why don't we just call that courage? After all, we are superheroes, and real heroes need courage!"

She smiles again. I look at her with my wide yellow eyes and even without reading her mind, I can feel my sister's sincerity.

"Of course!" I smile back, "Come on, Aya-nee, Shuuya and Tsubomi are waiting for us inside!"

**A few years later**

When I first hear the girl's voice in my head, I was scared, and a little nervous, because people always talk about the monster in the forest. But then, I listen carefully, and I hear the sadness and the loneliness in the thoughts. They aren't vindictive, or mean, but nervous and apprehensive, just like….just like…. the me I was before I met my new family. Shy, and scared of the world. And alone. Ayano-neechan's voice from long ago echoes into my head, and I am running as fast as I can to the small house deep in the forest.

When I open the door, I see the girl cowering on the floor, covering her eyes, and crying. I run to her side immediately, because the tears look so wrong on her. I take my hood- the one that has brought so much comfort and happiness to me over the years- and drape it across the girl's shoulders. It takes a few minutes of talking to calm her down, but when I show her my IPod and the girl is enthralled by the music. The girl, whose name I learned is Marry, finally starts to smile when she listens to the music. I smile back at her. Smiles look so much better on her than those tears.

This "heart that saves hearts", perhaps I can call it courage. Ayano-neechan, don't you agree?

After all these years of pretending, today I became a real hero.


End file.
